Yield by Pearl Jam

Yield, Pearl Jam's fifth album, came out on Epic in 1998, and it's the sound of a band loosening its grip on the steering wheel. After only a short promotional tour for No Code, they spent 1997 recording at Studio Litho and Studio X in Seattle with Brendan O'Brien producing, and for the first time Eddie Vedder wasn't carrying the lyrics alone: the songwriting was spread around the band.

It shows. Yield was hailed as a return to the straight-ahead rock of their early days, with Stone Gossard and Mike McCready's guitars back out front, Jeff Ament holding down the bottom and Jack Irons driving it hard. "Given to Fly" climbs and crests like a wave, "Wishlist" is a gentle, almost hymn-like murmur, "Do the Evolution" is a snarling, careening rocker, and "In Hiding" and "Brain of J" keep the engine running hot.

It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, and although it slid down the chart fairly quickly, it ended up outselling No Code and went platinum. This time the band leaned in: a return to full-scale touring and even a music video, for "Do the Evolution". It was also Irons's last album with the band; he left during the tour, and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden took over the drum stool.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.